Days Out: Tea room splurge before the big January detox

Hannah Bryan

FOR a final piece of festive indulgence before the January detox begins, treat yourself to a visit to one of Bettys quintessentially British café tea rooms.

For nearly 100 years people have flocked to Yorkshire for a taste of Bettys – and it’s easy to see why.

Its founder, Frederick Belmont - a Swiss baker and confectioner who came to England in search of opportunities - opened his first café in Harrogate in 1919.

Since then, Bettys has become an institution, with further tea rooms opening up in York, Ilkley, Harlow Carr and Northallerton, each one offering exquisite handmade cakes and speciality teas together with their trademark first-rate service.

Visit Harrogate, the place where Bettys began, and feast on traditional sandwiches, delicious pastries, mouth-watering cakes and refreshing teas and coffees while overlooking the Stray and the colourful Montpellier Gardens.

Or take a trip downstairs and enjoy views of a more unusual kind in the Spindler Gallery, home to a collection of exquisite marquetry scenes of Yorkshire from the studio of Charles Spindler.

For a more relaxed dining experience, try the Montpellier Café Bar, which is reminiscent of the informal dining style found in the cosmopolitan cities of Switzerland, Italy and France.

Here you’ll find a selection of classic pastries to accompany your morning coffee, as well as open sandwiches, filled rolls and stunning handmade cakes and tortes that will tempt you throughout the day.